Review: The Perils of Paella

The Perils of Paella Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Nancy Fairbanks
Class/Genre: Mystery Amateur Sleuth Culinary
Series: Carolyn Blue # 5
Berkley Prime Crime, Paperback, 1/04, 289 pages, $5.99

Carolyn and Jason Blue are off to Barcelona. She arrives earlier to spend some time with her friend Roberta Hecht (Robbie). Robbie is a resident Miro scholar currently at a modern art museum there.

When Carolyn arrives, the security guard and receptionist won’t let her in to the exhibit with her suitcase to wait for her friend. Finally she is able to leave her suitcase at the front desk, pay the exorbitant entrance fee and begin to tour the Tapas Triage exhibit. This was performance art. Each partitioned space contained a hospital bed. Most contained a patient (art student). There were creatures that came into the exhibit. They were representing Life and Death. The Angel of Life and Joy brought tapas. An Englishman tourist determined that the next performer to “die” would be the one that didn’t get the tapas. When Carolyn goes to the last patient, she discovers that she resembles her friend Robbie. She thought she was playing a joke on her. Then she realizes that this woman is not Robbie and worse, she is dead.

Inspector Ildefons Pujol I Serra (“Inspector Pujol”) is called into head up the investigation. Immediately he suspects Carolyn or Robbie because they are Americans.

Then Robbie discovers that her stepson, Henri Samuel Fauree (Sammie) has gone missing from his American school. Then her husband Hugh tells her that his passport and some money are missing. Robbie contact the consul and finds that Sammie arrived in Barcelona a few days ago. They begin searching for him.

Robbie and Carolyn get into many interesting and dangerous situations in this book. There are many suspects in the death at the museum and they hope to help Inspector Pujol discover the real killer before they are arrested.

I like Carolyn a lot. She is a delightful character and I find the books in this series to be a light and enjoyable read. I must say that at first I had a lot of trouble with the foreign names in this book. Once I stuck with it, I was able to keep everyone straight. I liked the setting of Barcelona but some of the places that Carolyn and/or Robbie went are not places I would want to see.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Dawn Dowdle

Book Review: The Perils of Paella